Crayola Crayon Maker lets kids blend and melt colors

Drawing with wax crayons is one of the priceless delights of childhood, but every child has experienced the dissatisfaction of finding one cherished color wear down into a nub while a palette less beloved colors smirk unused from the box. These unused crayons taunt: why should you have to buy a whole new box of crayons just to replace the black Crayola you wore away drawing a black bear in a black forest on a lunar eclipsed midnight?

Well, now you can do something pretty cool not only with the nubs of those favorite colors, but also with those smug unused crayons sitting wasted in the box. Crayola has just pumped a new Crayola Crayon Maker factory into toys stores across the country, and we’ve got to say, we think it’s pretty neat: it’s the Easy Bake oven of crayon making.

The idea here is that you stick a few crayons into a machine, melt them down with a single 60 watt bulb and then combine them into one crayon. Crayola doesn’t expect kids to stick to one color: they’re actually encouraging kids to combine colors, which should lead to some unpredictable, pan-chromatic crayons that scrawl chartreuse one minute, crimson the next.

It’s honestly pretty neat, and makes me wish I still had my big plastic box full of crayons so I could pursue the melting fun one lazy Sunday. For the Crayola Crayon Maker to work, you’ll need a wall outlet and a colorless 60-watt candelabra bulb, but otherwise, it’s a simple little kit, and commands a simple price… just $21.93.